Electrical transmitting apparatus



H. K. HARRIS.

ELECTRICAL TRANSMITTING APPARATUS.

' APPLICATION FILED JULY I, I9I6. 1,335,578. Patented Mar. 30, 1920.

3 SHEETSSHEET 1.

Arm/205m I H. K. HARRIS.

ELECTRICAL TRANSMlTTlNG APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 1,1915- 1,335,578. Patented Mar. 30, 1920. 3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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0. Arman Era H. K. HARRIS.

ELEL RICAL TRANSMITTING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 1,1916.

1,335,578. Patented Mar. 30, 1920.

3 SHEETSSHEET 3- //Vl/E/V TOP Hen/"g Mhgs ford Ha rr/s 5V IQZ PM? A T TUR/VEVS HENRY KINGSFORD HARRIS, OF WESTMINSTER, LONDON, ENGLAND.

ELECTRICAL TRANSMITTING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 30, 1920.

Application filed July 1. 1916. Serial No. 107,046.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY KiNGsFoRD HARRIS, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at 96 Victoria street, Westminster, in the county of London, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electrical Transmitting Apparatus; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to an electrical transmitting apparatus, provided with a keyboard and somewhat resembling a typewriter which, when the key is depressed, causes a definite number of electrical impulses of any required nature to be produced and transmitted for the purpose of operating suitable mechanisms at any re quired distance, for causing advertisements or the like to be exhibited or other desired operations to be effected.

WVhile being generally applicable where it is desired to transmit electrical impulses, my present invention is particularly suitable for use in connection with advertising devices of the nature desnibed in the specifications of my former Patents Nos. 27793/11; 4635/13; 15469/13; 29597/13.

The mechanism when adapted for use in connection with apparatus such as that described in my former aforesaid specifications may be used for transmitting impulses such for instance by hand directly to the units in the exhibiting station, or it may be employed for operating electro-magnetic punches for producing any desired perforations upon tapes or the like, which tapes are intended for use in conne tion with transmitting apparatus for sending impulses to selectors or other devices -in the exhibiting station.

The apparatus comprises a series of key bars, each bar having connected therewith mechanism, which, by a single depression of the said key causes a part, adapted toproduce a definite number or currentimpulses, to be brought into action, or released so that the said impulses are transmitted to some suitable receiving me hanism which may operate devi es for bringing advertisements or the like into position,

for punching tapes or for other desired purposes.

In the preferred method of constructing the said apparatus, I provide a roller or pinion shaft, which is constantly rotated by means of an electrical or other motor, with the intervention of suitable reducing gearing and I fit in connection with each of the key bars a roller, toothed wheel or its equivalent which when the bar is depressed is brought into engagement with the before mentioned roller or pinion shaft and rotated through a revolution or a portion of a revolution, means being provided such as other teeth in connection with each of the rollers or wheels, for causing contact making plungers, levers or other devices to be operated, thus causing the desired electrical impulses to be transmitted to the receiving apparatus.

I prefer to so construct the means for producing these electrical impulses that the rollers or wheels in connection with all the type bars cause the same transmitting device or devices to be operated, but I may combine with the apparatus, means such as a commutator for causing currents of various strengths, polarity or nature to be brought into the transmitting circuit.

vI also prefer to combine locking means with the keys in such a way that upon any one key being depressed, all the other keys are locked, so that they cannot be depressed until the said key has returned to its original position.

In cases where the apparatus is to be used for advertising purposes in connection with a selector which is adapted to be set either through unit distance or through a multiple of unit distance as described in my former specifications, in each case by means of a single electrical impulse, I may provide in connection with each of the rollers, wheels or other equivalents operated by each of the type bars, two or more sets of teeth or the like each set being adapted to operate upon a special plunger or the like for transmitting the required number of impulses to the particular magnet in connect on with the selector for causing the same to be onerated through a unit distance or a multiple of unit distance. v

Means may also be furnished, where the apparatus is associated with an advertising device of the before mentioned description, for causing the Various exhibiting units to be brought into operation in succession, or in the case where the apparatus is used for punching a tape for use in connection with one of such devices, means may be provided for producing any desired number of perforations or their equivalents corresponding with blank spaces in the exhibiting frames.

I may provide in connection with the apparatus, indicators such for instance as signs, lights or bells which. are adapted to indicate when the various operations of the mechanism have been completed.

And in order that my said invention may be better understood I will now proceed to describe the same with reference to the accompanying drawings which show by way of example one method of carrying the same into effect as applied to a transmitting mechanism suitable either for direct transmission of'electrical impulses to a suitable receiving station or for punching a tape for use in connection with other transmitting apparatus.

Figure 1 shows diagrammatically a sectional elevation of the instrument somewhat resembling a typewriter;

Fig. 2 shows a plan of part of the instrument, various portions being removed, for sake of clearness;

Fig. 3 shows view of a portion of Fig. 1 in another position;

Fig. 4 shows section on line 4, 4 Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 shows an enlarged View of one side of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the ar row 5;

Fig. 6 shows side elevation of the upper portion of Fig. 5 taken in the direction of the arrow 6;

Fig. 7 shows a diagram of connections;

- and Fig. 7 is a diagram showing how the transmitter may be used in a system working with currents of diiferent polarity;

Fig. 8 shows a detail hereinafter re ferred to;

Figs. 9 and 10 are detail views of the looking means for the transmitter; and Fig. 11 is a detail view of another locking means.

The same numerals of reference are employed to denote the same parts in all the views.

Each key 9 bearing a letter, numeral or some symbol is mounted upon a right angled extension of the bar 10 pivoted at 11 to the back of the machine and kept pulled upward by means of a spring 12. 13 are hooked shaped projections formed in one with the bar 10. These hooked shaped projections are so disposed that they come side by side, that is all at the same distance from the back of the machine, irrespective of the length of the key bar upon which they are provided. 14 are strips or plates pivoted at 15 to the side frames of the machine. These strips or plates 14 carry two rods 16 and 17, the rod 16 being so arranged that it comes beneath all the key bars 10 and the rod 17 so that it comes above the bar 10. l

18 is a stop and 19 a tension spring. hen one of the keys 9 is depressed its key bar 10 bears upon the top of the rod 16 and causes the plates 14 to rock about their pivots 15 in such a way that the bar 17 is brought beneath the hooks 13 of the other keys. It is, therefore, impossible to depress another key until the key already depressed again moves upward. Fig. 3 shows a fragmentary view of one of the key bars depressed showing the action just described.

20 are two upstanding portions of the side frames of the machine which have mounted between them fixed spindles 21 and 22 and upon these spindles 21 and 22 are rotatably mounted devices resembling toothed wheels, one of such devices being provided for each key bar. The outer diameter of each of these devices is provided with teeth 23, a portion 24 of the periphery being, however, left blank for the purpose hereinafter explained.

Each of the toothed Wheel devices is provided on the surface thereof with a groove 27 of peculiar formation, being provided with a recess 28 extending radially inward for some distance toward the spindle upon which the device rotates and having a cam like projection 29 coming opposite and slightly to one side of the recess 28. 30 is a rod working through suitable guideways and kept pressed normally upward by means of a spring 31. Each of these rods 30 is provided with projections 32 between which one of the key bars 10 pass s, in such a way that when the said bar is depressed it causes a corresponding movement in the associated rod 30.

Each of the bars 30 carries at the top a roller 33 of such size as to project into the recess 28 and groove 27. 25 is a pinion spindle which has pinned to the end thereof one part of the coupling 26 adapted to be coupled to a shaft driven through suitable reduction gearing from an electric or other motor.

The action of the portion of the mechanism just described will now be explained.

The pinion shaft 25 is kept constantly rotating by means of the electrical or other motor. lVhen one of the key bars is depressed it pushes down the corresponding rod 30 which causes the roller 33 to travel downward out of the recess 28 and to come into contact with the cam surface 29, thus causing the wheel-like device to be turned upon its axle through a sufficient distance to bring the teeth 23 on its periphery into engagement with the teeth of the pinion shaft 25. As the pinion shaft 25 rotates it causes the wheel now in engagement therewith to be rotated through nearly a complete revolution or part of a revolution where there are more than one recess 28 that is until the roller 33 springs upward under the action of the spring 31 into the recess 28, at which time also the key 9 returns to the upward position and the plain portion 24 of the periphery of the wheel-like device comes opposite the pinion shaft 25.

Each of the wheel like devices is provided with means for operating one or more spring plunger-s for operating contact making means as will now be fully described.

These means comprise one or more sets of teeth 34 provided upon the toothed wheel like devices and adjacent to the teeth 23. These are arranged so as to produce a suitable number of impulses for operating a selector or the like. WVhere this selector is adapted to operate with a number of impulses of one kind, teeth need only be provided on one side of the wheel, while where the selector is adapted to be operated through unit distance by impulses of one nature and through a multiple of unit distance through impulses of another nature. the teeth must be suitably arranged on one or both sides of the wheel. 35 are bars fixed to the side frames and running across the machine. These bars are provided with a number of holes through which springcontrolled plungers or pins 36 are adapted to slide freely. The pins 36 are adjusted by suitable nuts so that their lower ends come into the path of the teeth 34. 37 is a bar, shaped as shown in section and pivoted at 38 to the portion 20 of the side frames. 39 is a bar of similar cross section but of larger size and pivoted to the side frame at 40. The upper ends of some of the pins 36 are adapted to take against either arm of the bar 37 while others take against either arm of the bar 39. The sets of teeth being arranged on the periphery in advance of one another so that they operate in succession, the multiple step contacts are usually operated first.

There may be several sets of teeth on the same wheel according to the number of re cesses 28, so that when only a small number of impulses have to be transmitted the wheel only moves through part of a revolution. In this way when one of the toothed wheellike devices is rotated the teeth 34 on one side thereof cause the bar 37 to rock through a small angle a number of times corresponding to the number of teeth, while if the said toothed wheel device is also provided with teeth 34 coming on the other side these cause the other bar 39 to be rocked through a slight angular distance according to the number of teeth on this side.

Bars 37 and 39 control two electric circuits through contact making devices 41 and 42, and it will be seen that when the bar 37 is caused to rock a certain number of times, this causes the same number of contacts to take place and consequently, impulses to be transmitted to the receiving station or apparatus or to the punching deviceas the number of teeth which have passed under the particular plunger 36. The impulses transmitted by the rocking bar 37 may be of a different nature to those transmitted through the movement of the other rocking bar 39. 7'

Where the foregoing apparatus is combined with an advertising device compris- 1ng a number of units it is necessary to provide means for causing the current to be switched from the operating mechanism in one unit to that in the next unit in succession.

For effecting this I prefer to employ the following mechanism 43 isa rod pivoted to the side frames of the machine. This rod is provided with arms 44 carrying at their other end a bar 45 extending across the machine and coming beneath the type bars 10. The bar 45 carries an upstanding arm 46 having mounted at the top thereof a spring-controlled pawl 47 adapted to engage with the teeth of the ratchet wheel 48.

hen a key or the spacing bar is depressed, the bar 45 is forced downward against the action of the spring 49. This causes the pawl 47 to slip back over one tooth of the ratchet wheel 48 and when the bar 45 again rises upon the upward movement of the type bar 10, the pawl 47 causes the rat het wheel 48 to be moved through one. tooth. Mounted upon the same spindle as the ratchet wheel is another wheel 50 see Figs. 2 and 4, provided with notches or recesses 51 into which a roller 52 is adapted to take. The roller is mounted upon a pivoted arm provided with projection coming beneath a springy arm This arm carries an electrical contact adapted to make cont-act with the contact screwofi. the said contact being suitably arranged in an electrical circuit. It will. therefore. be seen that each time the roller 52 is caused to ride up one of the grooves and to enter the neXt, an electrical contact is made which is of such type and so arranged as to cause the switching over from one unit to the next. in the case of direct transmission to a number of advertising units.

Mounted upon the same spindle as the ratchet 48 may be also conducting rings 56 and 57 and a segmental commutator 58. In the example shown the alternate plates of the commutator are connected together and each of the sets of plates connected to one of the conducting rings 56 and 57. Pressing.

on each ofthese (the two slip rings and the commutators) are spring controlled brushes, those 68, 69 on the slip rings are as will be seen in the diagram, Fig. 7 respectively connected with a plus and minus sign of the double wound armature of the motor generator 71 giving two sources of supply the other poles of the two sources of supply being connected to the earth 7 2. The commutator brush is connected to the two transmitting contacts t1 and 4:2 in the latter case through the rheostat 60. The action therefore is as follows: When an electric contact is made at 41 a strong impuls is sent while when one is made at {2 a weak impulse is sent to the line. These impulses will be of plus or minus polarity according to the plate of the commutator on which the brush 7O rests at the time of the sending of the particular set of impulses whether one of the set connected with the ring 57 or the ring 56. The particular switching arrangement of the commutator can of course be considerably varied. The transmitting wheel might give plus and minus and the commutator strong and weak or any combination.

The exhibiting station in the diagram, Fig. 7 is given by way of example only showing one way in which various currents of this kind might be employed. 78 is a polarized relay the arm 7-1 of which will remain whichever side it is last set and can be caused according'to the polarity of the current sent to be in contact with a contact marked plus or minus. It was as shown last set at plus and therefore is held there in con tact by the permanent magnet. 7 5 are letter or other advertising units as before described in my patents. The present ones are furnished with selectors of the kind described in Serial No. 816,730 which can be set through single or multiple units of distance according to whether the current sent to them. be weak or stron By the arrangement shown two units are able to be coir nected to each stud of the switching selector 76 thus efi'ecting considerable economy in the connection. The action as follows: The arm 7 7 has been returned as describcu in my specification and rests on the first stud a spacing contact is made at the contacts 54: and 55. The arm will now rest on the second contact stud allowing of the setting of the first and second units, the commutator is so arranged that a plus current is sent and when the contacts 41 and 42 are operated the selector in unit 1 will be set according to the number of strong and weak impulses sent. Next the spacing which arranged in this case so as to only make one switching contact for every second time the commutator is moved on which may be done by the spacing of the teeth on the wheel 48 (or where a commutator is used for switching by the spacing of the plates on the commutato-r). Thus the next current will be minus and the arm of the relay will first be thrown over to the minus side and thus without further efiecting the magnets in unit 1 on account of the relay being more sensitive. 'This will cause No. 2 unit to be set as before described.

The rest of the operation of setting the unit is as previously described in my patent. The current returns through the arm 7 7 and the earth 7 8 to the earth at the transmitting station.

Referring to Fig. 7 this shows a diagram of connections for sending strong and weak impulses. t will be seen that the contact 42 is connected directly to the line 59 while the" contact 4:1 is connected to the said line through a resistance 60, 61 being the source of power. Therefore. when an electric contact is made at 42, a strong impulse is sent, while when one is made at a weak impulse is sent to the line.

Referring to F 8, the bar 45 has bearing thereon a spring-controlled rod 62 the upper end of which carries a fiber head 63 and comes beneath a spring contact 64:; 65 is another spring contact coming directly above the contact at. The two contacts 6%. and 65 are adapted when pressed together to cause a lamp to be li hted, a bell to be rung or other indicating means to be operated.

The operation is as follows:

When the arm 77 rests on the first stud. the key being at rest and the contacts 6% and 65 closed. the current passes from the minus side of the rest battery through the earth 72 and 78 to the arm 77 through tae line connectedto the first stud to the green lamp and the unlocking magnet 2 when one is employed. The green lainp tells the operator he can reset when he wishes and the trans-- initter is unlocked. When the arm comes in a similar manner to the last stud the red lamp is lighted and the transmitter locked by solenoid 1. The lamps need not be actuated directly by the rest current but may operate with the magnets 52 and l or these or any of the circuits may be relayed. When a printing recorder is used the printing and spacing magnets respectively are inserted in the circuit at the points marked X .nd Y in the diagram.

When any type bar or the spacing bar is depressed the rod 45 is carried downward as previously explained separating the contacts 64 and 65.

Upon the upward movement of the bar 45 the contacts are again brought together causing the desired indication to be made, thus informing the operator that the previous impulses have been sent and the apparatus is ready for a fresh key to be depressed.

Any suitable devices for steadying the type bars and keeping them in the correct relative position with regard to one another may be provided, such for instance as the so-called comb-like devices generally employed in connection with typewriters. For the sake of clearness these devices have been omitted from the drawings.

Means may be added for locking the machine when all the sets of impulses for producing a desired announcement have been sent to the exhibiting station.

Figs. 9 and 10 show by way of example how the transmitter is locked according to one arrangement. 7 9 is a solenoid operated in the diagram by the red lamp circuit when the arm 77 is on the last contact, its core 81 operates a crank lever and withit the push rod 82 normally kept in the position shown by its spring 83.

This rod carries an adjustable trip piece 84: which comes behind the rocking bars 1 1, 16 and therefore when actuated by the solenoid so as to be pushed forward rocks this, locking all the keys as before described. This rod 82 is shown as held when pushed forward in a locked position by a spring controlled catch 85 which in the figure can be released by the hand pressed button 86 but this of course may be done by another magnet as shown in the diagram 7 when the operation of the cycle is completed. At the same time a red light may be illuminated, thus apprising the operator of the fact that the whole announcement has been sent.

In other cases a counting wheel may be provided which can be set to allow a certain number of spacing contacts to be made after which the locking mechanism comes into action until released in some suitable manner, as shown in Fig. 11. In this figure 86 is a counting wheel having ratchet teeth and fed forward at each operation of the rocking bar 45 by the pawl 87 mounted on an exten sion piece 88 thereon. The wheel 86 is suitably engraved on the face with numbers which may correspond to the number of letter units to be set in a particular group and are read opposite the window or pointer 89. The wheel 86 also carries a lug or cam which as it comes around to a particular position operates a suitably insulated contact 90. This contact is in a circuit of the solenoid 7 9 and therefore when closed locks the transmitter as before described. The ratchet wheel can be moved around by hand to set any number opposite the pointer at which number the movement may be arranged to bring about the locking. A spring roller (not shown) is provided to prevent the wheel over-running.

It will be understood in general that the particular methods of constructing the rotatable devices brought into operation by depression of the keys for transmitting electrical impulses, may be varied without departing from the principle of the invention, and that the mechanism may be applied in all cases where it is desired'to produce sets of electrical impulses of a definite number or character by the depression or operation of keys.

hat I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States of America is 1. In an apparatus of the character described, a plurality of key bars, a rotatable wheel for each key bar, a contact device, the wheel having means for operating the contact, a continuously rotating member, and means for imparting an initial rotary movement to the wheels from the key bars to bring said wheels into operative engagement with the said member.

2. In an apparatus of the character described, a plurality of key bars, rotary wheels, contact devices, means for operating the contact devices from said wheels, a con- .0

tinuously rotating member, and means for imparting an initial rotary movement to the wheels from the key bars to bring said wheels into operative engagement with the said rotary member.

3. In an apparatus of the character described, a plurality of key bars, rotatably toothed wheels for the key bars, each wheel having a toothless portion, a continuously rotating toothed member, means for imparting an initial rotary movement to the wheels from the key bars to bring the teeth of said wheel into engagement with the rotary member, and contact operating means controlled by said wheel.

4. In an apparatus of the character described, a plurality of key bars, rotatable toothed wheels for the key bars, each wheel having a portion of its periphery plain and provided with teeth on its side face, a continuously rotating toothed member, means for imparting an initial rotary movement to each wheel from a key bar to bring the teeth of said wheel, into engagement with the teeth of the rotating members, and contact operating plungers engaging the teeth on the side of the wheels.

5. In an apparatus of the character described, a plurality of key bars, a rotatable member for each key bar, said members being provided with teeth, means whereby the members will be operated when the key bars are depressed, a spring pressed plunger engaging the teeth of each rotatable member, a pivoted member with which each plunger engages, and contacts controlled by the said pivoted members.

6. In an apparatus of the character described, a plurality of key bars, rotatable members for each. key bar, said members being provided with teeth, means whereby the members will be operated when the key bars are depressed, spring pressed plungers engaging the teeth of the said members, pivoted V-shaped members of unequal size and with which the plun'ge'rs engage, one plunger engaging the upper portion of one member and the other plunger the lower portion of the other member, and contacts controlled by said pivoted members.

7. In an apparatus of the character described, a plurality of key bars, wheels for producing contacts, each wheel being provided with a groove having a radial recess and a cam projection, spring pressed rods connected with the key bars and working in the grooves of the wheels, whereby an initial rotary movement will be given to the wheels, and means for imparting further rotary movement to said wheels.

8. In an apparatus of the character described, a plurality of key bars, contact devices, means controlled by the key bars for operating the contact devices, a second contact, a notched wheel, a pivoted arm having a roller engaging the notches of said wheel and engaging one member of the second contact, and a pawl and ratchet mechanism operated by the key bars for operating the notched wheel.

9. In an electrical transmitting device, a plurality of key bars provided with transversely alined hook-shaped projections, and pivoted and spring actuated plates, said plates being pivoted intermediate of their ends and connected by rods, one extending above and the other below the key bars, whereby when a key is depressed the plates will be swung to bring one of the rods into engagement with the hook-shaped projections to look all the key bars depressed.

10. In an electrical transmitting apparatus, a plurality of key bars, contact de vices, means controlled by the key bars for operating the contact devices, a pivoted and spring actuated member extending above the key bars, means on the key bars with which the said member is adapted to engage, to lock said key bars depressed, a series of contacts, a contact arm, means operated by any key to move the arm step by step over the series of contacts, and electro-magnetic means in circuit with the last of said series of contacts for operating the said means.

11. In an electrical transmitting apparatus, a plurality of key bars, contact devices, means controlled by the key bars for operating the contact devices, a series of stationary contacts, a contact closer con trolled by the key bars and movable into engagement with each of said stationary contacts, and electro-magnetic means in circuit with one of said contacts for looking all of said key bars when said contact is engaged by the contact closer.

12. In an electrical transmitting apparatus, a plurality of key bars, contact devices, means controlled by the key bars for operatin the contact devices, a series of stationary contacts, a contact closer controlled by the key bars and movable into engagement with each of said stationary contacts, a solenoid in circuit with one of said contacts, and means controlled by said solenoid for simultaneously looking all of said key bars when the contact closer is in engagement with the contact with which the solenoid is in circuit.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

A. E. VIDAL, A. BROWNE. 

